Separation
by brittany.pehlke
Summary: From a tragedy in the past of two parents hiding their children from the reaping and the games this whole time finally gets caught in their act, leaving their two children to get split up and transferred to different districts, changing their lives and their future. But what happens when an unfortunate event causes them to meet up once again after five long years.
1. Chapter 1

Large armoured jeeps surround the building with Peacekeepers piling out one by one to block every entry way so the family could not escape. The Cronin's family has been caught for hiding and keeping their children away from the reaping and the games for two years. A curtain shifts quickly at the window and the Head Peacekeeper, Struve, pointed at the movement and ordered two heavily armed men to break down the door. Steven, a man that has been working with the Capitol for years waved a hand at the window near him, signalling they are trying to escape. Struve raised his arm and fired. The two men by the front bashed in the door and headed in, only coming out five minutes later with the two parents wrapped up in a hold, preventing them to move.

"In the car!" He shouted. The parents cried aloud as they seen their young boy get torn apart from their daughter. Screaming and pleading won't help them for what they have done; they have already destroyed their chances of peace. The boy fought against the men but they only kicked behind his knee making him fumble to the ground, and pushing him into the car. Struve put the gun in his holster and strutted over to a car with a young with brown hair and green eyes and leaned forward with a smirk. He glared at Struve but that only made him smile more.  
"Get away from my baby!" The mother cried.  
Struve chuckled thinking of how naive they were to try and defy the Capitol for any longer, he knew they could not get away with it. Even for just two years, they will get a bad whipping. How selfish they are for hiding their children from the Capitol, they must of known they couldn't do that for long without getting caught. He looked at the boy in wonder and thought of the use he will be to district two. Struve adjusted his helmet and simply stated. "You're one of us now kid." His hand slapped the armoured jeep, letting the driver know he can go. Struve held up two fingers to let him know where to take him and the driver nodded understanding then driving off. He caught site of Steven sending the other child away and walking towards the last vehicle that held the parents. He sat in the front and looked back to see their faces written in anger but with tears flooding down their faces. Struve only laughed and pressed his foot down on the gas before speeding away.  
"Let's get them to President Snow." He chuckles. "He knows what he wants to do with them."


	2. Chapter 2

Gerrick's POV #1

My arm shields my face as yet another fist is thrown towards my face. I take a long step back and bring my fist to my eye level. Matt walks closer to me raising his fist with a wicked smile on his face. He dodges my swing with a quick step to the right. As he stands with his fist raised I bring my other fist up and connect it with his temple in a motion as quick as his step. His arms fall to his side and his eyes roll to the back of his head. I watch as his body falls to the ground in front of me. The cheers in the room boom all around me and I feel many hands smack my back as they make their way to Matt who is laying flat on his back in the center of the fighting platform.

"Salvador!" I look over my shoulder and see Struve walking towards me in his white and black Peacekeeper uniform. He holds his helmet under his arms. "Great work kid." Struve tells me as I walk down the platform. I smile at him as I stand in front of him.

"Yeah." I walk past him and he follows beside me. He walks into the change room with me. "Pretty soon I can use those skills when I become a full Peacekeeper."

"Well Gerrick." I grab my folded clothes from the bench beside a shower and stand up and face him. "That's why I came to see you today." I look up at him confused but excited. "We have an opening for you in district 7. The Peacekeepers in 7 are short one person. So you will be sent on a train by yourself."

"Really?" I say excitedly. "What for?"

"For the reapings tomorrow." He shifts the helmet in his arms. I forgot that the reapings were tomorrow. Well I don't really pay attention to when the reapings happen because although I'm 19 and I am at the age where I am too old to be called upon, I haven't had to worry about having my named called from those glass bowls even when I was of the age. Once I was taken from my family in district 5, five years ago I was given the option to train and become a Peacekeeper or to die. Obviously being 14 years old, I didn't want to die so I took the offer to live worry free of being chosen for the games and train to fight.

Since I witnessed what happened to my family I don't plan to fight for President Snow, I plan to fight for the innocent people. I plan to avenge my parents and my sister. Wherever they may be. They could be dead for all I know, but at least I can try to prevent others for getting killed for what the President thinks as 'defying' him. Another reason I plan to become a Peacekeeper is so that I can meet up with the two men who broke my family apart. I never saw his face or heard his name, but when the time comes I think deep down inside me I would know if it was him. When I do meet him, he will wish he hadn't of been the bad guy that day.

"Gerrick?" Struve asks impatiently. I look up at him. I always get lost in my thoughts.

"I accept it." I peel off my sweat soaked grey shirt and pull my black one over my head."When am I leaving? Tomorrow?" Struve gives me a serious look and smacks me upside the head with his helmet. "Ouch!" I yell as I place my hand on my head. I feel the goose egg form under my hand.

"You of all people know it takes at least half a day to get from District 2 to District 7." I nod at him. I don't bother arguing because the last time I did I spent a week running laps around the training building for an hour everyday. "You are leaving on the train in an hour." Before he can see me nod he storms off with his helmet under his arms down the hall. I stick my tongue out at him and peel my shorts from my hips. As I pull my clean black pants over my hips and loop the belt through its designated hole Bronus walks in. We both exchanged smiles.

"Nice moves out there today." He walks past me and picks a bench to drop his clothes. Bronos is probably 21 and is still training to be a full Peacekeeper like me. Although he is tall and has the wide set shoulders, he isn't that qualified to be a fighter. I even have more skills than he does and mine are still developing.

"Thanks." I say as I grab my bad from its designated cubby in the corner. I loop my arm in the strap and fling the bag over my shoulder and turn around to Bronus. "Guess what?" I ask him and he nods at me. "Struve chose me to be escorting the tributes in 7 tomorrow." I look down at my feet. "Isn't that-" The words escape my mind as my body is flung to the ground. I feel pain at my side. I look up and see Bronus bring his foot back one more time in another kick.

"You know how long I've been waiting for this opportunity?" His foot come in contact with my stomach and I pull my knees to my stomach as he brings his foot back again. "And you come along and take it from me." I grab his foot roughly as he swings it forward. My right hand cradles his heel as my left hand grabs his toes tightly. He goes to pull his foot away and he grabs the shower stall to keep his balance. I look up at his brown eyes and twist his ankle in my hands. His scream fills my ears in the small change room. He drops to the ground beneath me and I stand over him. As he looks up at me, tears fills his eyes and I grab his arm roughly, pull him off the floor. and drape his arm over my shoulder. I walk with him carefully to the center and everyone in the room comes running towards us.

"Two people in less then an hour." I hear a voice beside me. I look over and see Steven standing like I saw Struve earlier, in his white Peacekeeper uniform. I nod at him and he gives me a smile. "Its just a broken ankle, it could be worse. He could be dead." I smile at Steven and walk out of the room towards my room. Not like anyone would care if he was dead anyways. People are careless and don't care for others. They care only for their own safety.

I get to my room that is connected with the training building and grab my other bag from under my bed. Since I left the one in the bathroom I guess I will have to use this one from now on. I quickly shove an outfit similar to the one I'm wearing now. I sling the bag over my shoulders and walk out of the room. I lightly jog through the halls and make my way to the building entrance. As I open the doors Struve blocks my way to leave. Its like he is everywhere.

"I'm heading to the train station now." I say standing with the door help open. He nods at me and I squeeze tight against the door as he enters the building.

I walk quietly through the streets of District 2 with my hands shoved deeply into my pockets. I watch closely at the train as I come closer to it. I absolutely despise the Capitol and their transportation, but I have no other way of getting to District 7. The doors of the train open up as I come closer to it. My foot rests on the stair as I look behind me. This will be the first time that I have left District 2 in five years. I look at the justice building and see all the workers setting up for the reaping tomorrow. The Capitol's logo is hung on every single post in the towns square. I shake my head and climb the rest of the stairs to the train cart.

The door closes shut behind me and I stand in the center of the cart with my bag sagging on my shoulders. I look around the room and realize that I am completely alone. All around the cart is food and the poor furnishings from the Capitol. I shake my head and walk slowly over to one of the closest couches and drop my bag to the ground beside it and drop my body heavily on the flimsy couch. The weight of my body makes the furniture groan underneath me. I close my eyes and place my hand over my eyes. Got to get some sleep while I can.

I awake to my shoulders being shaken. I open my eyes wide and look up to see a weird looking woman in Capitol clothing with green hair. I roll my eyes.

"Excuse me sir but who are you?" She asks with one of the terrible Capitol accents. I slowly sit up from the small couch and rub my short brown hair.

"I'm a Peacekeeper." I look up at her with a smile. "You must be one of the escorts." She looks at me with a blank expression.

"Yes I am and my name is Winnow Battenburg." I stand up and walk over to the drink cart. She walks over to me fast and smacks my hands as I grab one of the bottle of liquor. "Now I know you are not old enough to drink that young man." I release the bottle and look at her.

"If I'm old enough to be a Peacekeeper then I'm old enough to drink." She looks at me with an unimpressed look.

"How old are you?" I shrug my shoulders and walk away empty handed from the table. I don't want to drink anyways.

"What District are you representing?" I ask her to change the subject since there seems to be nothing else to do.

"Actually We are arriving in my District now." She says with a smile as she walks over to the door of the train. "District 7."


	3. Chapter 3

Blye's POV #1

My hand gripped tightly on the tree branch as I pulled my weight upwards to get to the top of the tree. It is like every other day in district seven, working with lumber. I grabbed the saw from behind me and shifted my weight so it dug in nicely to make a clean cut. Andrew, my friend stood at the bottom of the tree looking up, he helps bringing lumber back to into the town with his truck. The teeth bit down on the hard wood, making dust blow slightly in my face as the wind comes and goes.  
"Andrew! You ready?" I shouted  
He looked up, walking backwards giving a nod. His dirty blond hair made him stand out as he waits for the tree branch. I cut in one more motion before the heavy tree branch went tumbling to the ground, Andrew stepped away and picked it up in his gloved hands before throwing it in the truck. The folks in town give us a break because we are younger and we work in smaller groups than my foster dad, he cuts down full grown trees while I work on making them look clean. Our friend Travis usually helps us but it seems he has the flu. I lowered my body and began cutting another overgrown branch quicker leaving Andrew with no warning but he should already be watching for falling branches, we do this job every day. Half an hour later we finally finish a tree and a half and I hop into the truck, letting Andrew take his time securing everything before we head down the dirt road, picking up dust as we speed down the open road back into the main square.  
"You ready for another boring reaping this year?" Andrew says looking at me.  
I smiled lightly."For sure, this is our last year!"  
Andrew chuckled and parked the truck beside the warehouse. He is already nineteen, one year older than me. But I am thankful that this is my last year for worrying about getting reaped. I never really got a chance to fully learn on why they send so many innocent kids into the arena to fight to the death but as Andrew explains it, it seems like a way of life. His gray eyes swept over my house and he hugged me lightly.  
"Looks like I'll be seeing you tomorrow at the reaping"  
I nodded and let go, seeing him walk off towards his own house before entering my own. My foster family are nice people; they genuinely care for me like every family should. Lily, my little sister came running at me with her arms out wide. A smile appeared on my face as I picked her up in my arms and kissed her cheek.  
"How's my little munchkin?"  
She giggles and put her blond hair behind her and looks up.  
"Good, mommy read me a book today!"  
"Did she!?" I say excitedly.  
I lowered my arms and let her run off and see Jessamine peek her head out from the kitchen and smile at me as I came near.  
"How was your day dear?"  
I grabbed an apple and looked at her with a tired expression.  
"It was alright" I say eating the sliced apple from the table. "Tiring"  
She laughed and smacked my hand as I tried reaching for another.  
"Those are for dinner, wait until your father gets home"  
I pouted but laughed as she ordered me to take a shower since I am all sweaty from working. Once I arrive in the bathroom, I see that my bath is already waiting for me; Jassamine must have made it for me. I stripped from my filthy clothes and lowered myself into the lukewarm water, letting my body soak before scrubbing all the dirt off. I never really understood why we have to dress up and look nice to go to a ceremony where your death certificate is basically waved in front of your face. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and scrubbed my black hair with the left over soap and combed my fingers through it, hoping to get the knots out. The sun setted making me finally get out and get dressed before taking my place at the table, Lily sitting beside me with a proud smile on her face. The only one who really looks a little similar to me is my mother,Jessamine, she has dark rich brown hair and dark eyes. Kellen, my foster dad has bright blond hair and blue eyes; kind of like Andrew, the only difference is that Andrew has grey dull eyes and dirty blond hair. I on the other hand have dark black hair and bright green eyes. Sometimes it pains me when I look at Jessamine, it reminds me of my own mother, Her being forced out of the house and into an armoured car with no goodbyes. My brother, Garrick got sent somewhere else, I do not know where but it is the least of my worries right now. I have to support the family I have now and worry about him later; I doubt I will even get to see him again. Kellen pointed at a paper bag on the wooden chair in the corner and looks at me.  
"I bought you a nice outfit to wear for the Reaping this year since you ruined the other one" He says chuckling.  
Jessamine joined in shaking her head. It is true that I can never seem to take care of something nice. I always have a habit of ruining things and most of the time I don't even know how. I pushed the peas around on my plate.  
"Thank you, I really appreciate it"  
Jessamine reached over the table.  
"It's really no problem Blye, we love you"  
I looked at my plate awkwardly as I don't remember my own parents saying that to me. Lily bounced up and down in her seat to, grabbing my arm.  
"I love you too!"  
I cracked a smile at how adorable she is, she is only six, turning seven in a couple days. Lily mentioned something about how she wanted me to try to make a nice dollhouse for her but I never to get the chance with lumber being constantly needed and the spare time I do have, I spend it with Travis and Andrew. After dinner we all took our part in cleaning up and I threw my hair up into a loose ponytail, throwing the covers over my body and Lily doing the same. We have to share the same room because our house is small but I don't mind. My hand turned the dial on the gas lamp to a dim, Lily turned over looking at me with her bright eyes.  
"Goodnight Blye"  
I smiled lightly at her. "Goodnight Lily"


	4. Chapter 4

Gerrick's POV #2

As Winnow walks down the halls of the justice building I find it harder and harder to keep my eyes open. I don't know why I'm so tired, I just slept for hours on the train ride here.

"Since you are only a temporary guest here in 7. You will be sleeping in this room." She opens a wooden door at the end of the hall and I walk on in past her. I look at everything around me and see a red couch that looked way more comfortable than the one on the train and a big window that over looks the town's square. Its almost night so I can barely see all the posters that hang around the town's square. "I know its not much, but it will only be for a night." She walks in the room and stands beside me.

"Its fine." I look at her with a smile.

"Ok!" She says in her cheerful voice after a moment of silence. "You will be outside early morning ready for the reaping. It should start shortly after you are ready." She walks towards the door quickly but I stop her.

"What exactly is my job?" I ask her.

"Well darling. Your job is to escort the tributes up to the visiting rooms after their names are called. So that means that you will walk them by yourself up the stairs and to their rooms." She takes a long breath. "Then you will wait outside their door until their visiting time is done." She claps her hands together. "You are assigned to the female tribute and you are not to talk to her." I nod my head. I've gone through the training of being a Peacekeeper, I know it more than she does I just never actually had the field experience of it. "Anymore questions?"

"Yea." I rub my head. "Since this is my first actual job as a Peacekeeper. I don't have a uniform. Where do I get it?" She gives me a quick smile then points to a wooden door that is on the other side of the room.

"Well if that is all. I am going to be heading off to bed as well." She gives me a nod and walks out of the room and shuts the door quickly behind her. I let out a long sigh and walk over to the couch. As I let my weight rest on the couch I feel my eyes become heavier than when they were in the hall. In almost an instant the world around me goes dark and I think of nothing. I think of tomorrow and I think of what will happen.

The sun beams on my face through the huge window in the tiny room. I squint against the sun's rays and stand up quickly. I take a glance out the window and see tons of people surrounding the square. Both Peacekeepers and citizens. Once my back is facing the window I walk over to the wooden door that Winnow was pointing to. I peer into the closet and see the white and black uniform with the helmet on the shelf above it. There is a thin black metal pole that is probably a foot long and it collapses in itself attached to the belt. I shrink a little inside thinking about the incident five years ago. I can't believe that I have turned into one of them. My head shakes roughly I'm not going to be a bad Peacekeeper. I'm actually going to bring Peace to the Districts not what the Peacekeepers do now.

Quickly I pull my shirt over my head and throw it on the couch. After I peel my pants off I grab the uniform from the hanger and beginning to put it on myself. In training I have worn many of these uniforms many times but I haven't had one to call my own because I haven't been out in the field. Once the whole outfit is placed in the exact pieces on me I look on the ground of the closet and see a FN P90 sub-machine gun. My mouth opens wide as I see the black metal sit before my eyes. I bend down and pick it up in my right hand. I stand up straight and hold it across my chest like I would be standing guard on the stage today.

As I stand with the gun in my hand and my body pin straight I think about my family yet again. I've always thought about my family, but lately its been worst than usual. Like a constant thought that can never be gone no matter how hard I think about it. "Mom, dad." That's the first time I have ever spoken that out loud. "Blye." As I whisper her name I think about the look on her face as the Peacekeepers pull her away from me. I think about her green eyes looking back at me. We had the same eye colour. That's how everybody could tell that we were brother and sister. I cringe away and let the gun hang at my side and walk to the door.

My hand wraps around the handle but before I can even turn it, the door swings open and Winnow stands in front of me. She smiles at me and taps her foot against the ground. "Forgot something?" She looks at me as if I had two heads. She gives and exasperated sigh and points to my head. My gloved hand reaches to my short brown hair. I smile at her and run back to the closet and place my gun on the shelf beside the helmet and pull the helmet off the shelve and slowly slide it on my head. I look through the tinted glass that covers my face and see like I had if I wasn't wearing the helmet at all. The Capitol's technology is actually pretty advance and that's probably the only thing they are good for. I grab my gun quickly and run back to Winnow.

"I'm ready." I say through a muffled voice. Its not that you can't hear the words that come out, you can actually hear it clearly it just sounds a little different from your regular voice because you have to talk through a small speaker that amplifies your voice. Winnow looks at me seriously for a minute.

"Ok." She stands with her hands on her hips and continues to talk. "You seem like a very sociable person." She takes a deep breath. "But you will not be talking to the tribute at all when the time comes." I nod at her and raise my hands in surrender. She gives me a smile. "Ok time to get ready. Its almost starting." I nod yet again and follow her down the hall and down the stairs. She stops suddenly and points down a hall. "That's where you will be taking the female tribute." I nod at her in silence and she continues to walk. As she opens the main doors to the square I gasp at all the people in the crowd.

"Everyone is dying to be here." I say while I shrug my elbow at Winnow. She turns on her heals towards me.

"This is not a joke!" I look at her mad face and realize it isn't. How could I joke about that. "Act professional."

"I'm sorry." I say with my head hung low. She fixes her dress and points her finger just by one of the glass bowls that hold the tributes names.

"Take your place." I nod and take my place by the bowls. I look around me with my gun held across my chest so that if anything happens I will be ready to fight. Or shoot. I Mentally shake my head and focus my eyes on the middle aisle. I don't understand the point of guarding here because where are the tributes going to run. All they have to go is in the town, which the Capitol will definitely find them, or they can run in the building and we can have a good game of hide and seek. I roll my eyes and keep looking straight.

The clip that was sent from the Capitol plays in the background and I ignore it. It just talks non sense about how the Districts came to be and the uprising which caused the reapings every year. "Welcome!" I hear Winnow speak through the microphone. "to the 36th Hunger Games! My name is Winnow Battenburg and I will be your announcer for today." I watch at the corner of my eyes as she digs her claw of a hand in the girls bowl. I find my self slouching a little bit. I'm going to be experiencing someones death sentence. My mind goes blank and I straighten up and hold my gun steadily. A white slip of paper is held in her hand and she walks over to the microphone and out stretches the slip in her hand and opens it up. "Blye Herriot." She says with a cheerful voice. A cry sounds in the crowd and I look in the crowd to find the name's owner. Blye is such a unique name. Its too much of a coincidence that there is another person with the same name.

I shake my head, but her last name is different. Its hard to tell because once we got split apart they changed my name so they had to of changed her name as well. I will find out if its her when she comes up on the stage. At the very back of the crowd of people a short girl with black hair that is worn in a crown of braids on her forehead begins to walk up the aisle, escorted by four Peacekeepers. As she comes closer to the stage I see that she wears a dark blue flowy dress with a white belt that is worn at her midsection. I feel my body shake in anticipation as she draws closer. "Please." I whisper. "Don't be her." Although I would love to be re united with my sister. I don't want that time to be now if it means her going into the games.

Her feet thump against the wooden stairs as she ascends closer to Winnow. I can't see her face because she isn't fully looking at me. I find my stare on her at all times and ignore everyone around me. I don't care if they notice. She looks over at me with a serious face and I don't look away. No one can see through the tinted glass but she can tell by the way that my head is positioned that I am looking at her. I feel a tear run down my cheek as I look into my sister's green eyes. Her eye contact breaks away from mine as she stands beside Winnow. My head follows Blye and I bore my eyes into the back of her head. I have to talk to her.

Winnow walks over to the boys glass bowl on the other side of the stage and pulls out a white slip. Like she did with Blye she walks to the microphone and booms her voice in the microphone. "Jugo Galloway." I don't bother looking into the crowd for this Jugo boy, I just keep my eyes on the back of Blye's head. She stands a little shakily but other than that she seems calm and collective. We both have grown so much, I wonder if she will even recognize me if I do revel myself. Before I know it Jugo is on stage and shaking Blye's hand. Winnow grabs both him and Blye by their hands and lifts their arms up high.

"Let's give a big round of applause for this year's tributes! Blye Herriot and Jugo Galloway." Winnow drops their hands at their sides and begins to walk them to the entrance of the Justice building. The other Peacekeeper and I walk behind them quietly as we walk up the long stairs to the entrance. As her head bobs up and down I hold back my tears more and more. She is so close to me yet so far.


	5. Chapter 5

Blye's POV #2

Hands shook me awake from my slumber as I squinted from the bright light entering from the window beside Lily's bed. Jassamine stood over me with a plastered smile on her face saying that we have to get ready. I hauled my feet over the edge and stared at the wooden floor not wanting to get up. My muscles ached from climbing up and down trees and using my left arm for balance as I let my saw chew through the wood. I rubbed my eyes and stood up stretching before looking at Lily who is still sound asleep. Even though she is young enough not to qualify to have her name in for the games, she still has to come. I put my name in only once, Kellen and I do enough work that we get by just fine. It's not that I'm used getting up this early but Lily isn't, she still attends school which starts later.

"Lily, it's time to get up" I whispered while rubbing her arm.

She scrunches up her nose and opens her eyes to look at me.

"I get to look pretty today like you do Blye!" She says happily, with a smile on her face.

I smiled at how positive she thinks of situations and I hope that it will always stay like that for her. Her small feet pounded on the floor as dad announced that he is cooking dinner this morning while Jessamine called me over to get ready. I slipped the nice skirt over my waist and tucked in a nice dark blue puffy shirt. It did not make me look big but it made the outfit standout in general, a nice white is placed around my stomach to make it look like a dress when it's really not. I smiled at Jessamine as she buckled it together and began on my hair, I'm not really the type of girl that knows how to work with hair, I just leave it messy always or up in a ponytail when I am working, though Jessamine thinks differently on this special occasion. I feel the strands of my hair getting pulled back into what felt like a loose braid but when she tells me to look into the mirror, it is not at all what I imagined it to look like. My hair is pulled up but into a braid that wraps all around my head to make it look like a bread. I touched it delicately like it is a piece of art in awe.

"This is absolutely beautiful"

She smiled and stands behind me in the mirror with her hands placed on either sides of my arms.

"I have to see you look lovely one more time before you stop going to these horrible ceremonies" she says.

Kellen yells that breakfast is ready so I eat everything on my plate before we rush out the door as everyone begins gathering at the center of the district. I walked with Lily at my side, holding her hand, swinging it in a up and down motion before I see Andrew walking my way.

"I'm going to see my friend okay?"  
She smiled understanding before running off with Jessamine. Andrew shoved my shoulder playfully and looks at what I'm wearing.

"Since when did you get all girly?"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"I have to for this occasion Andrew. But once this ceremony is over we can go run and hang out with Travis in our usual spot"  
He nods, embracing me in his arms, swinging side to side before resting his chin at the top of my head. I did not want to leave his arms but I knew I am going to see him later. I might as well get this over and done with as I can. I stand there for a couple minutes in his arms before I pull away. He pressed his lips against my forehead and looked me in the eyes.

"Goodluck Blye"

I nodded and see him walking over to join his own family, he is lucky that he no longer has to go through this again. The line is long enough to wrap around at least two blocks in our district but I look through the faces to see a line for girls. Peacekeepers stroll by, people parting to get out of their way as they walk confidently through everyone like it is no big problem. They only care about themselves, not the safety for the citizens in the districts. I took my place in line, having a lady roughly grab my wrist, yanking me towards her. My feet stumble against the ground as I see her stab my finger.

"Name."

How can she be so emotionless? The words fumbled around in my mouth as I cannot seem to find my own name. She looked up with a glare.

"Name."

"Blye Herriot" I say shuffling my feet. She flipped through the book and pressed my finger against the white paper and shoos me away. My hands wrap around the material in my skirt as I take my place beside a red haired girl that looks to be the same age as me. She stands tall and keeps her face forward with a stern look on her face before turning to me and chuckled.

"You look like you never been at a reaping before"

I glance away nervously and reject her comment. This is the fifth one I will be attending and once this is over I will be done. Kellen even told me he will give me a promotion once I get home. The stage towers over us like a giant castle, shadowing the left side of the crowd while I stand in the middle of the hot sun. A screen is placed on a wall showing that this is the 36th hunger games. Two peacekeepers stand tall with guns in their hands on stage as if someone will try to run but I highly doubt they will do that. The anthem plays loudly through the speakers bringing everybody to silence as we see a clip on why we have the games and a few replays from last year. I look away not wanting to see any blood or any other gruesome pictures that they show. This is wrong, how can they hurt innocent people without feeling bad at all? They are like emotionless, all of them. They don't care about us, all they care for is their pay checks and the power they feel every time they arrest someone or gun them down. My family does not watch the hunger games; we avoid seeing anything like that so we can focus on more important things, like getting food on the table and not scaring Lily. A voice rings through the microphone from a woman in a weird looking outfit.

"Welcome to the 36th Hunger Games! My name is Winnow Battenburg and I will be your announcer for today."

One the stage on either side of Winnow is two clear glass bowls with many different pieces of paper in them for everyone standing here today, to make our future or break it. At the corner of my eye I see the girl move slightly but I kept my face forwards, dazing out, thinking of what kind of work I will have to do when I get home. I hear a voice that is muffled and I see it is Winnow announcing a girl's name. I look around to see if anybody is moving but they are not.

"Blye Herriot"  
I looked up at her in shock as I felt the hands of people in my row begin to push me out into the row in-between the boys and girls. A cry wailed loudly from behind me but I did not have the time to see who it is as I am escorted to the front with two Peacekeepers in front of me and two behind. Winnow smiles down at me as I slowly walk up the stairs with my shoes thumping quietly. A Peacekeeper that is near the top of the stairs turns to looks at me but I only look back with a blank stare. They should not care, or are they actually not animals and have a sense of empathy. Winnow grabs my hand but I am distracted by her bright green hair, she smiles at me and announces my name one more time. She walked towards the boys bowl but I stare out into the crowd to see Jessamine with tears down her face and Lily looking confused. Andrew is not seen anywhere and I constantly look for him until I am interrupted with an outstretched hand in my face. I accept the gesture and look into the eyes of a young boy who has black hair and brown eyes. I ignored his sad look as I felt bad but I quickly came up with the thought that I may have to kill a little kid in this game. My lip trembles but I bit it as Winnow grabs both of our hands and raises them high.

"Let's give a big round of applause for this year's tributes! Blye Herriot and Jugo Galloway"


	6. Chapter 6

Gerrick's POV #3

We walk down the empty hall side by side. I feel the urge everytime I look over at her to throw my gun to the ground and peel this helmet off my head to show her it is me. The only thing that stops me is the fear that she will hate me for what I have become. She may think of me as like the other Peacekeepers, but I'm not. I'm going to have to prove that I'm not like the rest. I want to help the innocent. Not now anyways, I tell myself. I'm going to wait until we are alone. I mean we are alone right now but I know in just a couple of minutes someone is going to be barging in wanting to visit with Blye. I hold my gun steadily in my hand and stop at a door. She looks up at me with hatred in her eyes, I swallow hard. I break away the contact and open the door. After a second of standing and quietness she walks in the room. As soon as she shuts the door behind her I drop my back against the wall and feel the tears fall down my face. How is it that I was saved from the games and she wasn't? Its not fair. My little sister is going to fight in the games and is either going to die, or worse. Lose herself.

The patter of feet remind me of my duties and I stand away from the wall with my gun held at my chest. As the thumps come closer I look down the hall to see three people marching towards me. At the front is a little girl around five or six, she has bright blue eyes and blonde hair. I look above her and see a man and a woman. The man has bright blonde hair like the daughter and is built with muscle and looks buff. My eyes are drawn to the woman as they get closer. I look at her long and see that she resembles my mother all too much. With her long auburn hair and tall skinny body. Although she doesn't have the green eyes that Blye. her, and I carry. This woman has brown eyes.

I shake my head and look at the wall across from me. This must be her new family. That's great to know that she got a family. All I got was a military base to call my home. Bloodied noses and broken bones was what I got for every holiday as a gift. I clear my thoughts. Blye deserved a good loving family after what happened. She didn't deserve this gift she got from the Capitol. The little girl runs up to the door and looks at me with sad eyes.

"Is she in there." I gulp deeply and croak.

"Yes, darling." She gives me a weak smile and opens the door quickly. As the man and the woman walk past me they both look at me confused. What? They haven't heard of a Peacekeeper being polite. I look past them and the walk in with the door shutting behind them.

I drop my gun to the side and place my head to the wall. The only sound that comes from the other side is little muffles and sobbing.

"Oh Blye." The woman speaks. "Its alright sweetie." I peel my head away from the wall and lean my back against the wall beside the door again. As my head falls gently against the wall a small thump comes with it. I take out a deep breath and close my eyes. How am I going to talk to Blye? She probably already hates Peacekeepers, so she will probably hate me. I shake my head and fall to the ground.

My gun rests on my lap as I sit on the floor waiting for them to finish up. Five minutes have passed and I am told to take them out after five but I decide to leave them for a little longer. After a long breath I stand up and open the door slowly with the gun by my side.

"Time's up." I say quietly. Every single person in the room looks at me with hatred in their eyes and I ignore it. I look down at the little girl holding Blye in her arms on the couch. "Other people want to visit." I say more stearly. The man looks at me and whispers something in Blye's ear then grabs both the woman and he girl by the wrist and pulls them out the door. I move to the side to let them pass then look at Blye. I can't believe after all these years I have found her. I walk out the door and close it behind me as I slide to the wall.

Before I can even re collect myself a girl comes walking down the hall. I'm glad Blye made a lot of friends. At least to try to keep her mind off the bad things. As I look at her I see that she has brown hair and like the rest of the people in this district she is muscular. Although she is pretty skinny. She comes closer and closer and I feel her blue eyes bore into my skull. I try to ignore her but fail so I watch the wall across from me and let her walk in the room.

For the second time today I heard the mumbles of Blye and someone else talk as I waited outside patiently. Not given the chance to talk to probably the only family I have left in this world. After a five minutes of them talking I open the door cautiously and talk shakily.

"Next person is coming in." The girl looks at me with her blue eyes. She looks back at Blye for a second then stands up and walks towards the door. As I stand to the side and hold the door I watch as the girl disappears down the hall. After I see that she is gone I look at Blye who sits on the bed. I stare at her silently admiring her presences. All this time that I have been separated from her and she is here, she is safe. Well she was safe. I open my mouth to speak but she beats me to it.

"What are you looking at?" She spits at me. I stumble back from her words and stand in front of the wall again. I close my eyes quickly to re group myself but am disturbed by the thump of feet down the hall. My eyes dart to the figure and see a tall boy. Well not a boy he's probably the same age as me. He is built strong, probably from all the lumber work he does in this district. As he comes closer I see that his hair is dirty blonde and he has grey eyes. As he walks past me he gives me the deadliest stare that anyone could give and walks in the open door. The door slams behind him and I feel the emptiness in me grow stronger.

My gun drops to the ground and I rip the helmet from my head. I slowly slide to the ground as I hold the helmet in my hand. She hates me. My hand brushes through my short hair and I hold back the tears. How am I going to fix this? I rest my head against the wall and close my eyes to concentrate on the conversation. After a few minutes of quiet conversation I decide to give up on listening. The door handle squeaks open and I jump on my feet with the gun in my hand. The boy faces me and looks at me in shock. I look down at my feet to see my helmet bobbing back and forth lightly. I look at him with round eyes and bend to pick my helmet up quickly. As my hand fumbles to find the front of the helmet I slide it over my head and look at him long.

"On your way." I say pointing down the hall that he came from. He gives me a long and shocked stare before his feet begin to move. Once the sound of his feet disappear down the hall I let out a huge breath. I hope he didn't see the resemblance. I let out a sigh and wait a little longer. As the minutes go by I walk to the door and open it.

"Its time to go." I tell her. She stands up from the bed and walks out the door. I walk with her with my gun held in front of me. I can hear her feet behind me patter and as we walk down a set of stairs I see Winnow dressed in her hideous clothes.

"Hello!" Winnow grabs Blye's hands as we stop in front of her. "Come along dear, no time to waste." She says looking back and forth to Blye and Jugo. Blye's eyes stay focussed on Winnow as me and the other Peacekeeper stand behind the three of them. The doors open behind Winnow and she looks at Jugo and Blye with a smile. They all walk out the door together and me and the other Peacekeeper follow a step behind them. As we ascend the stairs with the guns held to our chests the crowd all around the back of the Justice building roars with cheers. How can this be such a happy time?

I watch Blye's head bob slowly as it gets closer to the train. The train station is right behind the Justice building so when the tributes are picked they get taken straight to the Capitol. I take a deep breath as all five of us walk up the stairs of the train's platform. Winnow piles into the train with a waving hand behind her. After her Jugo steps up then I watch as Blye makes her way up the stairs without looking back. My feet walk towards the train and I am held back by a hand on my shoulders. I turn around with rage to see the other Peacekeeper holding my shoulders.

"What are you doing!" I yell at him over the roar of the train. I look up at the train and see it move a couple feet. My eyes go wide and I walk towards it. I feel the hand through my uniform again and I elbow his arm away with rage. My body turns towards him and I face him.

"You were ordered to stay here." He points at the train that is moving faster past us. "You are not going to the Capitol." I glare at him through the tinted glass but know he can't see me. I turn around and look at the disappearing train in the distance. She was with me and now she's gone. She's gone again. Not for long. I'm going to see her even if it kills me.


	7. Chapter 7

Blye's POV #3

The air grew heavy as I am escorted down the long corridor to the room where I will say my last goodbyes, like I once did five years ago. People say if something happened so long ago you can finally let go of it and eventually forget that memory but in this case I can't. I'm 18 now and this was supposed to be my last year but it seems that it won't ever be that way unless I die but even if I do win, I will have to be a mentor for the new tributes years after. I tensed as I felt the peacekeeper get a little closer beside me when he opened the door to my room. After a few seconds I walked in and take my seat on the well furnished bed in the middle of the room, my legs swung back and forth as I looked to the ground, seeing what looks like an expensive rug. Worry fills up inside me as I realize i don't know how to use a weapon and I don't have a lot of skills to live on my own. I don't know how to make a fire or even fish. The thoughts bring my mood down and I frown at the ground, how am I suppose to survive this? A body jumps on me and when I look up, I see that it is Lily. My face broke into a smile and I wrapped my arms around her small body.  
"Do you have to go?" She mumbles. He small hands rub my back but I only stare at Jessamine who stood beside Kellin with tears in her eyes as she watched us. I didn't want to leave, I was just starting to feel like I actually fit in. I cringed as I thought of Lily being taken away from me like Gerrick once more and feel the tears beginning to fall.  
"Yes" I croaked. "I'll be back" She hopped down letting everyone take their fair share.  
Jessamine explained that I am the second best thing that has ever happened to her and that I will always be a part of their family. Kellen promised me that he will go out of his way to try to help me in any way, shape or form. But before they could begin to talk, the door opened revealing the Peacekeeper that escorted me earlier and says that their time is up. Kellen bends over and whisper "Come home." before going out. I stare at Lily who is being dragged out of the room and I quickly look away not wanting to remember anything. To my surprise Isabella comes through the door next and tackles me into a hug. I have had school with her but she never really seemed to like me until we had to take our fair share with the lumber business. I punched Isabella in the arm and shoved her back playfully. "You got some spunk" she says flipping her hair over her shoulder. I chuckle, our friendship is conflicting. Sometimes I really want to beat her to the ground but I like her being around at the same time. Her brown hair hangs to the center of her back and her eyes glance around the room. I pick at the loose thread from the blanket and look at her curiously.  
"Why are you really here?"  
She moved towards the curtains and closed them a little. Her face is stern but it soon turns to happiness." I can't wish my friend good luck in the games?"  
I did not give her an answer as I did not know how to answer that. We never really did talk that much before we started working together, half the time I think it's because she wants me to do her portion of her job but Andrew always put her in her place. Travis never really liked her, whenever Isabella would come to try to work with Andrew and I. He would always back sass her and storm off but recently he has gotten sick because of the poor conditions we live in and we also don't have the best medications either. Isabella takes the empty chair and taps her fingers lightly on the chair before opening her mouth and closing it quickly. "Jugo." I tilted my head as I stared at her but she seemed not too pleased to talk about it.  
"He's dangerous Blye. Remember that killing that happened in the woods a couple months back, the one that nobody caught the murderer? His older sister came running to me saying that he admitted he committed the murder of that 12 year old boy. If you decide to get close with anyone during the games, don't go to Jugo. Hunt him first."  
If anything, it will be the last idea on my mind to kill someone. I took the information she gave me and the door opened once again. "Next person is coming in." Isabella looked at him before standing, giving me a slight smile before heading out the door. I looked back to the floor as I felt my head begin to throb, should I feel threatened? I don't know what to feel. The feeling of being stared at returned quickly and I finally had enough with him or her. I glared at the Peacekeeper that still remained in the doorway.  
"What are you staring at?" I spit at him.  
The person takes a step back and Andrew walks in and brings me into his arms. I hug him just as tightly and rest my head on his chest looking out the window and seeing everyone beginning to return to their homes, unlike me. I'd feel a sort of comfort if someone I know would be going through what I am with me, to depend on them. I always have depended on Andrew, as much as that seems stupid. I have. He has always been there and he still continues to be. He mumbles my name in my hair and looks down at me.  
"You can do this you know." He whispers.  
I stared at him not believing a word that he says. Even if I say that I can win, I would not even believe the words coming out of my own mouth. I lightly pushed him away and sat on the bed glancing at him. "No I can't"  
"Yes you can. Blye you are the most talented person I have seen with an axe yet."  
I briefly relive the memories of everybody getting taken away and I hold my hand to my mouth. I imagine the same thing happening again, curling up on the bed I shook my head violently.  
"I can't do this Andrew"  
A weight shifted beside me and I felt his arms snake around my waist once again and feel me getting pulled onto his lap. His lips pressed against my forehead. "Yes you can. I'll look out for Lily and Travis if you promise me you will give everything you have to offer in these games." I froze. Looking into his eyes reminded me of how sick Travis is.  
"He's not dying is he?"  
He pursed his lips and shook his head.  
"No, he just needs another week then he should be back up on his own feet again. Don't worry more than you need to Blye. He told me to tell you that he wishes you luck during this whole thing. Make smart choices."  
I breathed in through my nose and nod. Andrew fixed his shirt with his other hand as he set me down to ground, he always that over shirt, the one I made him for his birthday. I laughed a little as I remember Travis shoving Jessamine's homemade pie in his face and her ordering him to clean up the mess afterwards. He tugged on it before putting it in my arms and laughed.  
"It's something to keep your mind clear with good thoughts."  
I smiled lightly as I held it closer to my body. Andrew patted my back and stood up and walked to the door. "At least you will be nineteen by the time you get back, think of it that way" He gave me a smile before he closed the door behind him.  
I stare at the mysterious Peacekeeper as he says "Its time to go.".I followed him or her down the hall, turning right before going down a set of stairs. The platform is a gray colour like everything else seemed to be in this world before a train speeds past us making me gasp and fall back a step. These are the fastest things I have ever seen in my life, how on earth do they move so fast? Jugo soon appeared with Winnow by his side, leaving the other Peacekeeper who escorted him.  
"Come along dear, not time to waste!" Winnow says smiling.  
She nods at the Peacekeeper behind me and it slowly moves away and I walk inside the train last. The fresh lumber smell cut off just as quickly as the wind that was once there. What happened? My palm rested against the wall as I looked out the clear window seeing District 7, my home, get smaller and smaller as the train begins to pick up speed.


	8. Chapter 8

Gerrick's POV #4

I run through the justice building angrily with the other Peacekeeper trailing behind me.

"I'm sorry but that was your officers instructions to me." I turn around to him and throw my gun at him. He grabs it cooly in his hand left hand.

"Give me a radio!" I scream at him as I peel the helmet off my head. "I want to speak to him." The peacekeeper looks at me and then peels his helmet also. HIs long blonde hair is tied up in a pony tail. His blue eyes stare at me and he walks towards me with his hand extended towards me.

"The name is Tucker." I slap his hand away and step closer to him.

"I don't care who you are." I throw my helmet to the ground and take another step closer to him. Making our faces only inches apart. "I want to speak to Struve."

Thunker gives me a smile and shoves the gun in my hand. "You are not in charge boy. I am." He turns on his heals and walks out the front of the Justice building. If he's not going to get me the radio. I'm going to find it myself. I grab my helmet from the ground and shove it on my head. My gun holds its place across my chest as I walk to the doors. The doors open to an almost empty square. The only people that are here are the people that clean up after the reapings.

I look down at my feet and see an old lady rolling up part of the red carpet that was spread across the stage from the reaping. My eyes look away from her and I walk down the stage to where all the kids were held to have their names reaped. I stopped in the center of the open square and look all around me. There has to be a Peacekeeper armoured jeep somewhere here. I walk further into the town and check every alley and between each house.

I look up at each house and see window shutters drawn. I wonder if that was that Jugo kids house. I shake the thought. I can't even imagine what the families have to go through when they know one of their family members are going to die. I shake my head and keep my stride strong as I walk past a couple citizens on the sidewalk.

"Hey!" I hear someone call from behind me. I turn around to see one of the armoured jeeps driving up the road towards me. A Peacekeeper is waving at the window and I wave back. The jeep stops slowly in front of me. "You need a ride?" I look up at him and sling the gun's strap over my shoulder and let it hang there.

"No, but Tucker sent me for a radio so I can contact Struve from District 2." He looks down at me questionably.

"Why?" I shrug my shoulders.

"I don't know." I smile and know that they can't see it through the glass. "Tucker wanted me to check in with Struve about how I was today."

"Couldn't Tucker have done that himself?" Again I shrug at his question.

"I thought that too, but he wanted me to report it to Struve." I raise my hands in defence after a long pause. "All I'm doing is following orders." He looks down at me with a smile. His head disappears in the window for a moment then he comes out and hands me the radio.

"We need more Peacekeepers like you in this District." I give him a smile and nod.

"I'll return this to Tucker when I'm done." I say to him. He nods at me and waves at the driver to drive off. As they get further away I wave at them. "Idiots." mumble under my breath with a smile on my face. With the radio in my hand and the gun slung over my shoulder I walk to a quiet area. I stop in the street and look all around me for just the right spot.

A dark alley way beckons me and I walk down there with the radio in my hand. Once far enough in I drop my gun on the ground and kneel beside it. All I hear on the other end while I turn the dials to get reception is static. "Damn." I whisper. I set the radio down and pull the helmet off my head and place it beside my gun. The radio makes a small sound as I pick it up. "Hello?" I say through the radio. "Struve?"

"Sno-" It gets cut short. "rebe-on." I look down at the radio and then the static even disappears. I smack it with my hand. "Gave me a dead one." I clip the radio on my belt and stand up with my helmet and gun. I sling the gun over my shoulder and slip the helmet under my arms. "That was a wasted effort." A scream howls in the distance and I drop my helmet on the ground and sprint outside of the dark alley. As I get out I see directly in the square and see an elderly woman being dragged to the stage by four Peacekeepers. "Stop!" I scream.

My feet run forward fast through the crowds of people that have gathered from the excitement. I watch in horror as I see one of the Peacekeepers pull out a black leathery whip. My feet run faster at the sight. She holds her arm up to protect the thrash of the whip, but she still falls face first on the stage. The Peacekeeper brings his arm back for a wip. I loudly thump up the stage and push the Peacekeeper to the ground. I pull the whip from his grip and throw it off the stage, as I walk towards him I am punched in the face. I stumble back but run towards the other Peacekeeper, grab his mid section and pull him to the ground with me. The weight of my body holds his chest to the ground and he struggles to get up. I grab his helmet in my hands and pull if off of him. He looks up at me and swings his fist at my head. I block it easily with my arm and twist it to the side. His screams fill the square.

"Get off him." I hear a voice behind me. I feel hands grab me off the Peacekeeper and pull my to my feet. I lurch towards him but am given another punch in the face. My arms are held to my back and I see a Peacekeeper comes into my view. He takes off his helmet and Tucker stares back at me with his blue eyes. "You interfered with my job. She tried to escape the District and that is punishable by death."

"You were harming a helpless old lady. She can't even walk straight when she's healthy" I look over at her and see her weakly getting up. "Please let me help her." I look at him with pleading eyes and he looks at me seriously.

"No." Tucker walks over to the lady and pulls out his handgun.

"No!" I scream and pull at the Peacekeepers holding my arms back. I feel useless.

Tucker looks over at me as he raises the barrel of the gun to the back of her head. "You are no longer welcomed in my District." The ringing of the gun sounds in my ear and I watch as her body falls lifelessly to the ground.


	9. Chapter 9

The train speeds across the tracks into a tunnel making me stare out the window to see open land. Uncomfortable how I was, I am forced to be seated beside Jugo. I admit that I do feel scared around him but who wouldn't if they knew the guy you are sitting beside if a murderer. I gulped as he looked at me, holding the gaze for a moment before I looked away quickly. He did not look young but neither old, so that makes me think he is around sixteen or seventeen. My hands run across the smooth cold table before I hear the doors open with Winnow's voice filling up the train car. Her laugh echoed as she showed a man to his seat, and reluctantly sits down in front of me. He must be out mentor. His dark skin makes his white shirt pop out brighter but I am amazed when I see he has two different coloured eyes, one is a gold colour which the other is a bright blue, like Isabella's. "So" He reaches for the cup of coffee Winnow places in front of him. "Tell me about yourselves"  
I raised an eyebrow thinking that he is supposed to introduce himself to us first but my guess is wrong. Winnow waves her hand at me and gives me a confident smile. "Uhm" I grabbed the bottom of my skirt.  
"My name is Blye Herriot and I'm from district 7"  
He chuckled and waved his cup at me."There has to be more than that"  
"Tell us about yourself first" A rough voice butted in. I glanced to see Jugo leaning on the table looking at him.  
"You're our mentor are you not?"  
The man looked surprisingly impressed."Very well" He slides his cup to Winnow.  
"I am Talon Fallsview, winner of the 14th annual Hunger Games. I indeed am here to help you along the way before you get put into that bloodbath you call a game."  
I admired his honesty but it seems that he did not really care about being here, mentoring us. Did they force him here? I would not be surprised if they did. Talon looked from all three of us and folded his hands. "First things first." He says looking at me  
"Don't think about the games; don't think about what you are going to do. Before training to defend yourselves, you both must learn to go through the mental process first."  
Jugo scoffed leaning back crossing his arms. He shook his head. "You've got to be kidding me"  
I glanced at him but he looked straight at Talon. Winnow breathed in quietly before putting a hand on both their shoulders. "Why don't we let them rest for right now, they have a busy schedule once they arrive."

I could not sleep the whole entire way there and neither could Jugo from the looks of it, he played with the window outlining of the train and began pulling it off. I rolled my eyes and looked out the window and seen bright lights everywhere. Winnow is at the door and called over to me. It all happened so fast that Talon and Winnow is at the front while Jugo and I are shoulder to shoulder trying to fight through the crowd. He tensed and shoved a camera out of his face and stalked forward. His brown eyes found mine through all the people and he waved. "Come on." I pushed someone out of the way and I immediately felt really bad. Jugo glared at me once I stepped foot into the building.  
"What?" I spat.  
"Toughen up pumpkin; we are fighting for our lives. They don't need our satisfaction."  
I continue to glare at him as he smirks and walk away but Winnow waits patiently for me. She guides me down a hall and into an elevator, fixing her wig and dress."Oh you are going to love the clothes and your designer." I ignored her and felt the elevator move up as she pressed the button. Jugo must have gone off with Talon to get ready as well. Once the doors I see people rushing in weird looking outfits and bright colors. I slowly walk in looking around and Winnow turns down a corner."Come come, we can't be late". I jogged down the hall awkwardly because of my dress. Jessamine always told me that it is nice to act and look like a lady but I'm not really the one for that, being in district 7 and all. I have more muscle than most girls would but not like I am complaining about it, it helps me get things done. Winnow peeks in a door that is slightly open, light pouring through it. A man peeked out with pink hair and shook her hand, they exchanged whispers to each other and he finally brought his attention to me. His face brightened as he took my hand.  
"You are absolutely stunning to begin with; Oh the Capitol will love you!" He glanced back into the room he is in and smiled at Winnow.  
"Thank you for bringing her"  
She nods at him and walked off with the sound of her heels clicking against the floor. I lay on the table and wince as he begins waxing my legs and take even the littlest hair out of place from my eyebrows. I glanced at him "I'm Blye and you are?" He ignores my question and ushers me to another chair where he slaps shampoo on his head and lurches my head back into a sink.  
"Loxus, Loxus Haffingdale" He says massaging my temple.  
From what I see, I am guessing he only works alone. Nobody else is in the room and I lay with a towel over my body while he scrubs my hair. The stuff they use is very different than what I use at home, or maybe that's just because the Capitol loves them more. I wish that Gerrick could see how big this place is. He picks up another towel and wraps it on my head and left the room leaving me alone to look at all different kinds of brushes and tubs full of things and a rack that looks like it is full of hair. My face scrunches up, please tell me that's not real people's hair. Loxus enters dragging another rack with wheels that holds a long dress.  
"Made this myself" He grabs if and slips it over my small body. It fits nice and snug like they already knew my size before I got here. He passes me shoes that are green that look like the big leaves you can cool someone off with by waving them. I slip them on but then he grabs my chin, making me look up at him. He made sounds of hmm's and haah's before walking over to the stand that has many buckets. Loxus snapped his fingers, a girl with white hair comes running. He points to me.  
"Work on her hair into a nice bun and put this flower in it while I work on her face."

After a good twenty minutes with people poking and prodding at my head to make me look nice for the entrance, Winnow returned and gasped.  
"You look amazing"  
I lightly smile saying thank you and skip down the halls feeling nice for once and Winnow laughed at me."You are something special" I smile big saying I know and twirl around. I stop as I feel something in front of me. Jugo stares down at me with amusement written all over his face, He raised an eyebrow as I kept staring at him. I push him away from me and walk to the elevator with my head up, not waiting for anybody else. Talon is the second one to enter the elevator and nods at me. He pressed the bottom button as everyone else enters and we shift once more. Loxus looks through the shiny metal walls and fixes his hair and Jugo leans in the corner. But Winnow still remains to ramble one.  
"Oh I'm sure you will be the capitol's favourite"  
Talon looked at her. "Winnow, don't get to ahead of yourself"  
She glanced at him but kept her face forward.  
"Of course not, I mean Just look at the fantastic job Loxus has done for this year's outfits!"  
The elevator dinged indicating that we are at the floor we are meant to be on and we all separate. I am in front with Talon and Winnow while Jugo is enjoying Loxus' ramble about fashion behind us. Note my sarcasm. I feel stares all around us but I keep my head up and walk with Talon by my side. He exchanges a look with another Mentor that seemed to look like they were district 4 and glances at me. "Pick your poison." I look at him startled, not understanding where he is coming from.  
"What?" I whisper.  
"He means be careful who you pick to trust idiot." Jugo whispers.  
I look behind be and roll my eyes not wanting to deal with him at the moment, or any time to be exact. Isabella explained that he killed that twelve year old boy back in district seven but for some reason I don't fully believe it. Loxus jogged over to me and put a twig in my hand and I stare at it. At least it matches the side of my dress. "Press it when you're ready"  
Talon and Jugo are already on the chariot so I go as well, hoping on the left side. Jugo glares at me.  
"That's my side"  
I smile lightly at him and pat the other side. "Not no more"  
He sighs before hoping in the spot beside me. Only if Gerrick could see me now, I don't know if he would be proud or angry with me. Or what I will be doing in the arena. The horses begin walking at the gate slowly, I never been this close to a horse before. I smiled at the funny memories I had when Gerrick would play charades with me when we wait for our mom and dad to get home. I see his figure jumping around and making a loud nay and me having a giggle fit. A wide smile came to my face as I gripped the long stick Loxus gave me as we ride out, Jugo looks at me weird but gives a smirk at the crowd at they cheer loudly. The drums made a wonderful tune and when we reached half way, I raised my arm, clicking the bottom. Green grass and flowers grew behind us but Jugo had trees growing in rows behind him. Does this mean that Jugo is stronger than me and I am the weaker one? President Snow looks over his balcony and settles his eyes on me. I don't give him a smile or a glare. But a blank look to show him that I will no longer be that person that everyone thinks they can mess with.


End file.
